David Vadim was born in Ukraine and raised in Brooklyn, New York. He grew up competing in sanctioned no-rules fighting and eventually transitioned to boxing. He has written about his experiences in the ring in a series of short stories. His story Boredom was adapted to the stage, which led to David developing a deep interest in theatre, performing Off-Broadway and soon getting discovered for his portrayal of the poet Arthur Rimbaud.

In addition to guest starring on Law and Order, Third Watch, Street Time, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Fringe, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, Person Of Interest, and Daredevil, David had a recurring role in Denis Leary's Rescue Me - playing Paulie, a mentally disabled young man "adopted" by the fire house crew. More recently David portrayed General Nikolai Timoshev in Gavin O'Connor's pilot episode of The Americans. In 2014 David landed the role of SVR Resident Gennady Isakov in George Nolfi's spy drama Allegiance on NBC, co-starring Hope Davis, Scott Cohen and Giancarlo Esposito. David can also be seen as Luka Melnik, The Ukrainian foreign minister on CBS's Madam Secretary, and will appear as Hilly Krystal, the creator of the iconic NYC club CBGB, in Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter's new HBO series Vinyl,